Metro

Man Kills Pastor Inside Osun Church

Published

2 months ago

February 27, 2024

A pastor in charge of Celestial Church of Christ, Grace of Comfort Parish, Omitoto, in Osun State, Moris Fadehan, has been reported to have been murdered inside his church by one of his assistants, Lekan Ogundipe.

According to sources, the suspect drew the attention of the people to the presence of the partly burnt remains of the pastor inside the church on Monday.

It was gathered that Ogundipe, after committing the act, ran to the house of the founder of the church, whose name could not be immediately ascertained, and told him that fire was burning the pastor.

It was also learnt that a resident of Omitoto where the church is located was also told by Ogundipe that fire was burning the pastor and upon arriving at the scene, observed blood on the dress of the suspect, and drew the attention of the founder of the church to his observation.

It was also gathered that the same man called the police, whose operatives deployed to the scene, and subsequently arrested the suspect.

It was not immediately clear the issues between Ogundipe and Fadehan that could have led to the murder of the deceased.

But a source close to the deceased, who does not want to be mentioned for security sake said Fadehan had retrieved keys to the church from the suspect, after he assaulted a prophetess, following undisclosed differences last week Wednesday.

He said, “Assault on the prophetess occurred last week Wednesday. The prophetess was in the church and Lekan (Ogundipe) came around and met her. They had a disagreement. Lekan eventually assaulted the woman. He bit her and that got the shepherd angry.

“Because of the way he acted, the pastor retrieved church keys from him. This last Sunday, there was a crisis in the church that almost disrupted the service. Lekan’s matter was also part of the issues that caused the crisis.

“But on Monday, when the pastor arrived at the church, he was praying at the feet of the altar when someone pounced on him and attempted to cover his face with clothes. That led to a tussle. Pastor struggled to push the attacker away and in the process, he got to know it was Lekan that attacked him.

“While that was on, Lekan reportedly picked up a screwdriver and hit it against the pastor on the face, killing him on the spot. To cover his track, he dragged the body towards the generator, poured petrol on him and set him ablaze. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t cover his track well.

“After killing the man, he ran to the residence of the founder of the church and told him that fire was burning the pastor in the church. He also raised the alarm in the neighborhood that fire had killed the pastor inside the church.

“But one of the those that arrived at the scene early observed blood on Ogundipe’s dress. The man also observed a mark of violence around his neck region. The man and the founder then tricked the suspect and kept him in a vehicle and when the police operatives arrived, they handed him over to them.”

When contacted on Tuesday, Osun Police Command Public Relations Officer, Yemisi Opalola, confirmed the incident, adding that the command has commenced investigation into the matter.

She said, “At about 10:15 am on Monday, one Moris Fadehan aged 65 years of Grace of Comfort Oke Odo, Omitoto, Ile-Ife, was killed by one Lekan, who is also a member of the church. Upon arrival, his body was found in a pool of blood. Marks of violence were also discovered on the body of the deceased.

“The suspect was arrested at the scene of the crime. Remains of the deceased were deposited at the OAUTHC morgue for autopsy.”

PUNCH

Metro

Court Stops Rivers Govt From Withholding LG Allocations

Published

11 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Editor

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, stopped the Rivers State Government from withholding financial allocations of the 42 Local Government areas in the state, pending the determination of a suit that was brought before it.

The court, in a ruling Friday, ordered the local government Chairmen in the state and nine others, who had filed the suit to maintain status quo, pending the determination of the matter.

The ruling followed an ex-parte application in a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/537/2024, argued by Mr. Aliyu Hussein, counsel to the plaintiffs.

Cited as plaintiffs in the matter are: Dr Chidi LLoyd, Chairman, Emohua Local Government, Hon Alwell Ihunda, Chairman, Port Harcourt Local Government, Dr Nwanosike Samuel, Ikwerre Local Government Area; Barrister George Ariolu, Chairman, Obio-Akpor Local Government; Dr Obbinna Anyawu, Chairman, Etchi Local Government Area; and Hon Chidorom Nwaiwu, Chairman, Omuma Local Government Area.

Others include Dr Hope Ikiriko, Chairman of Ahoada West Local Government Area; Barrister Benjamin Isreal Eke, Chairman of Ahoada East Local Government; and Dr Roland Sekibo, Chairman of Akuku-Toru LGA.

The presiding judge, Justice James Omotosho, stopped the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Police Commissioner in Rivers, Director General, State Security Service, SSS and its Director, who were cited as defendants in the matter, from withdrawing the security personnel of the LG Chairmen, pending the final resolution of their motion on notice.

Justice Omotosho held that the Rivers State Government should not frustrate or prevent the LG Chairmen from discharging their duties and rendering services to their respective councils till the determination of the suit.

The plaintiffs approached the court, praying for an order of interim injunction to restrain the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, Chairman, Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Rivers State Government, Attorney General of Rivers and Commissioner for Finance, from withholding the revenue accrued to them.

They also sought an order from the court to restrain the IGP, the Commissioner of Police in Rivers, the SSS, its Director, and the AGF, from withdrawing the security personnel attached to them.

They equally prayed the court to prohibit the defendants from preventing the enforcement or implementation of the newly amended Rivers State Local Government Law N:5 of 2024 pending the determination of the motion.

In a 33-paragraph affidavit in support of the application deposed to by Dr Chidi LLoyd, Chairman of Emohua Local Government, the Chairmen claimed to have been duly elected in a democratically conducted election for a term of three years under the provisions of the Rivers State Local Government Law.

They asserted that they are autonomous and constitutionally recognised as one of the tiers of the government, adding that the Rivers State House of Assembly enacted the Rivers State Amended Law to guide their affairs and activities.

They claimed that the Rivers State Government, AG and Finance Commissioner, who are not happy with the amended law, have approached the IGP, CP, DG SSS and Director SSS, seeking the withdrawal of policing and other security services from them to frustrate the implementation of the amended law.

The Chairmen alleged that the Police Commissioner in the state, who has the responsibility to advise the IGP on the policing and security needs of Rivers State, is under substantial control of the Rivers State Government and would implement the directive of the state government.

They held that it would be impossible for them to carry out their respective functions and duties without the policing and security services of the IGP.

They prayed the court to restrain the defendants, especially the Rivers State Government, from taking the law into their hands.

In his ruling, Justice Omotoso ordered all parties in the suit to maintain the status quo pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice for an interlocutory injunction.

The judge warned that no party should take any step that would make the motion on notice nugatory.

“The plaintiffs are hereby ordered to serve the motion on notice seeking an interlocutory injunction on the defendants to enable them to have the opportunity to respond to the same.

“That this matter is adjourned to the 2nd day of May 2024 for the hearing of the motion on notice,” the court held.

PUNCH

Metro

Two Fake Police Inspectors Arrested In Edo

Published

12 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Editor

Men of the Edo State Police Command have paraded two fake police inspectors arrested in connection with illicit drugs valued at N20 million in the state.

The Commissioner of Police, Funsho Adegboye, who disclosed this to newsmen in Benin City, said they were among the five-man criminal gang specialized in dealing in illicit drugs.

He gave the names of the two fake police officers as Alex Akaeze, 39, and Kadiri Hassan, 45.

He also listed other members of the gang including Ovie Samuel, 46; Stanley Itota, 45; and Felix Oputi, 46.

Adegboye explained that the suspects were arrested by operatives of the Command’s Intelligence and Rapid Response Squad at a guest house operated by ome Samuel at No 5, Colobus Street, off Upper Mission Extension Road, Benin City.

He added that the illicit drug called ‘ice’ weighed 1,080 kilograms with a street value of N20 million.

He said that investigation was ongoing and that the suspects would soon be charged to court.

When interrogated, one of the suspects, Akaeze, said he was enlisted into the Police Force in 2009.

Akaeze, who insisted he is a Police Inspectorz added that he was transferred to Zamfara State from AIG Zone 2, Lagos State.

According to him: “I am an Inspector of Police. I was enlisted in 2009, I started in Ketu, and from there to SARS. I was transferred to Zamfara, but I did not go.

“I worked myself back to Zone 2, and from there I was transferred to Lagos State Command, from where we were later transferred to Alagbon in September last year, but we were yet to report for duty there.

“These two officers [Command operatives] are our colleagues, we worked together in IRT, I have their phone numbers and I called them before I came down from Lagos and I told them that I had an urgent arrest to make and wanted them to follow us and they agreed.

“Although I told them that I still serve at Alagbon, I didn’t tell them the truth that we have not reported for duty there. We were with them in their office yesterday and they led us to make the arrest. We were however surprised that they suddenly changed it for us and arrested us with the drug dealers” he said

On his part, Kadiri Hassan, who also insisted he is a Police Inspector, added that he joined the Police Force in 2008.

He also disclosed that he was yet to report to duty at Alagbon when he was transferred in February this year.

Ovie Samuel, who procured the hard drug, denied knowledge of the trade.

“The people called me and said that they needed ice and I called my brother in Delta State to bring it for them, only for them to reveal their real identities that they are policemen” he stated

Metro

JUST IN: Oyo LG Polls: Hoodlums Attack Electoral Officials, Snatch Ballot Papers [PHOTO]

Published

19 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Editor

Hoodlums suspected to be political thugs have reportedly snatched ballot papers meant to be used for local government elections in Kajola Local Government Area of Oyo state.

DAILY POST gathered that the ballot papers were hijacked by the hoodlums in the early hours of Friday.

The ballot papers are to be used in the local government election slated for Saturday.

The Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission, OYSIEC, is conducting the election in all the 33 local government areas in the state.

A source noted that the snatched ballot papers have been recovered from the suspects.

He added that about 14 suspects have been arrested.

The source who bagged not to be named, also revealed that the affected ballot papers have been taken back to Ibadan.

OYSIEC Chairman, Isiaka Olagunju, when contacted, confirmed the attack on electoral officials.

He, however, said that no ballot paper was snatched.

Olagunju, in a telephone conversation with DAILY POST on Friday, maintained that the Divisional Police Officer in the town has been mandated to arrest the suspects.

“That is not true. The fact is that there was an attack on our officials last night.

“Our officials were attacked at our office at Okeho. No ballot paper was snatched.

“In fact, the DPO of Okeho and other security agencies followed our EO to come back to Ibadan. They just went back to Okeho now. And we have directed the DPO of Okeho to arrest the suspects. That is what happened.”